When Daymond Langkow was injured on March 21, 2010 after being struck in the neck by an Ian White slap shot, the scene was terrifying. Langkow fell to the ice and didn’t move and had to be taken off on a stretcher with fractured vertebra. Langkow hasn’t played a game since then but today the Calgary forward received some great news.

Flames acting GM Jay Feaster announced this afternoon that Langkow has been cleared to resume full practice with the team. While Langkow’s been out for so long and this is a big step, it’s a big one on the way to getting him back on the ice. With the Flames having just five games left to play this season, we’re hoping that he’ll be able to get at least one game in this year. Getting to do that will be tricky as Feaster makes clear.

“In as much as Daymond has not played in an NHL game in more than a full-calendar year there remains issues relative to getting him ready to return to the line-up such as conditioning, rebuilding muscle mass, readiness for game speed and game timing, etc. At such point in time when the coaching staff determines that Daymond is ready to return to the line-up we will make the necessary roster transaction(s) to activate Daymond.”

Getting back to peak physical shape is key for Langkow because you’d hate to see anything happen to him further on his comeback to slow him down. The one downside to this story is that the Flames are all but eliminated from the playoffs. With so few games remaining compared to other teams in the hunt out West, it’d be spectacular to see Langkow’s return coincide with a Flames run into the playoffs.

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk has been the most difficult goalies to score against this season. Leave it to a high-level player like Leon Draisaitl to make it look this, well, “easy.”

Draisaitl scored his 13th goal of 2016-17 by capping this pretty give-and-go play with Benoit Pouliot. You can see the frustration from Dubnyk at the end of the tally, as if he was saying “How was I supposed to stop that?” (though probably with more colorful language).

Draisaitl came into Friday with five goals and three assists in his last five games, so he’s been almost unstoppable lately.